The Indianapolis Museum of Art has placed Robert Indiana’s sculptures Numbers (four) and Numbers (six) in the IMA Welcome Center to celebrate Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. The sculptures will be on view from January 27 to February 9, 2012.

Following this special installation, Numbers (four) and Numbers (six) will rejoin the complete Numbers series on the IMA’s Alliance Sculpture Court, where the series was recently installed after undergoing restoration for the first time since the series was completed in 1983.

Numbers consists of 10 colorful two-tone sculptures that each stand 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Created by Robert Indiana from 1980–1983, the series was commissioned by Melvin Simon and Associates (now Simon Property Group) to commemorate the Indianapolis-based real estate investment company’s 20th anniversary. The 10 sculptures first were shown individually and in groups on Simon properties throughout the country. When creating Numbers, Indiana instructed that the complete series eventually be given to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Simon gifted Numbers to the Museum in 1988.

The Simon commission provided the opportunity for Indiana to create his first sculptures of the colorful hard-edge numbers that he had begun painting in the 1950s. Indiana told The Indianapolis Star in 1981 that the commission was the “largest and most important in my life.” Since the original Numbers’ commission, additional versions have been fabricated and displayed in exhibitions around the world.

Born Robert Clark in New Castle, the artist changed his last name upon moving to New York City in 1954. In addition to Numbers, many works by Indiana are part of the IMA’s collection, including his well-known LOVE sculpture, which remains on view on the IMA grounds. Indiana now lives and works in Maine.

Located at 4000 Michigan Road, the IMA and Lilly House are open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The IMA is closed Mondays and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days. For more information, call 317-923-1331 or visit www.imamuseum.org

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